“Among large counterparties that made margin calls and now benefit from ongoing AIG bail-out: Goldman Sachs Group, Merrill and Société Générale, UBS, Barclays, Credit Agricole’s Calyon investment-banking unit and Royal Bank of Scotland; Deutsche Bank and Canadian banks CIBC and Bank of Montreal.”

Bah humbug.

It is hard to imagine a more worthless bunch of goofs in control of our economy than those who are there now. They are archtypal Bushians. They can turn a problem into a disaster, and a disaster into a catastrophe. It is not whether they will do something else stupid but what it will be.

How many times do I have to hear that they’re incompetent?

After the 2000 election the Bush administration intentionally let Enron rape California — they voted for Democrats.

In 2001 NYC was hit by “terrorists”. NYC voted for Democrats.
Also, Washington D.C. was hit by “terrorists”. They voted for Democrats.

When Katrina hit NOLA they clearly avoided helping. NOLA is a Dem town.

Now America has elected a Democrat president. Any chance the Bushies are getting their revenge in early and big?

BTW, NYC is a Democratic city, despite having Republican mayors.

So, incompetence? I don’t think so.

The big question for me is not whether the Bushies are guilty. The bigger question is who exactly are ALL of their co-conspirators and what are their next moves.

Federal regulators directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to start purchasing $40 billion a month of underperforming mortgage bonds as the Bush administration expands its options to buy troubled financial assets and resuscitate the U.S. economy, according to three people briefed about the plan.

Fannie and Freddie began notifying bond traders last week that each company needs to buy $20 billion a month in mostly subprime, Alt-A and non-performing prime mortgage securities, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans are confidential. The purchases would be separate from the U.S. Treasury’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.
Bloomberg 10/11/08

There’s more at Bloomberg

from Baghdad year zero: Pillaging Iraq in pursuit of a neocon utopia

Torturers believe that when electrical shocks are applied to various parts of the body simultaneously subjects are rendered so confused about where the pain is coming from that they become incapable of resistance. A declassified CIA “Counterintelligence Interrogation” manual from 1963 describes how a trauma inflicted on prisoners opens up “an interval—which may be extremely brief—of suspended animation, a kind of psychological shock or paralysis. . . . [A]t this moment the source is far more open to suggestion, far likelier to comply.” A similar theory applies to economic shock therapy, or “shock treatment,” the ugly term used to describe the rapid implementation of free-market reforms imposed on Chile in the wake of General Augusto Pinochet’s coup.

my bold.

It’s funny, middle of last year when the public became aware of the ~sub-prime~ crisis, the typical blog comment across the spectrum was: why should we care about greedy speculators and ignorant buyers? To which I knew the collateral damage about to unfold would affect everyone. My typical response was, When your 401(K) is trash, you might be whining as well.

As I recall, Nouriel Roubini forecast the bursting of the housing bubble, in a speech to the IMF in 2006. They didn’t believe Dr. Doom then. And last year’s ‘12 steps’ has pretty much unfolded as he said. Meanwhile, more clues are being revealed to suggest that JPMC got the Bear Stearns deal to disguise the largest silver manipulation in history — aided and abetted by the watchdogs.

Soviet Russia had five-year plans, the pikers. Our economic catastrophe has been 95 years in the making.